Egg on cops’ face, terror accused freed
Bengaluru: “I was branded the ‘terror mastermind’ but now I have been set free of all charges,” said Muthi Ur Rehman Siddique, the city-based journalist, who was arrested by crime branch sleuths on ‘charges of waging war against the country’, minutes after walking out of the Parappana Agrahara central jail Monday night.
Muthi Ur Rehman Siddique, 26, and Mohammad Yusuf Nalband, 28, were arrested along with 10 others from Bengaluru, Hubli and Bagalkot on August 29 last year for allegedly plotting to assassinate right wing politicians and journalists. The duo were released after the National Investigation Agency found ‘no evidence’ against Siddique and Nalband linking them to the terror plot, following which a city court on February 23, ordered their release. On Monday night around 9.15 pm, they walked out of the jail.
Speaking to reporters after his release, Siddique reading from a prepared note, said: “I am grateful to almighty God, who put an end to my trauma. I hope no innocent person will ever be forced to undergo this trauma that I have been through. I am thankful to the media for having stood by me in this hour of crisis. Right now I just want to get back to my normal life. I need my privacy to gather my thoughts, but I am thankful to everyone who stood by me.”
The journalist who tried hard to hold back his tears when asked about his ordeal in jail, said, “I was branded the mastermind of the terror plot, but the accusation has fallen flat. I need to see my family. Tomorrow (February 26) I will meet you all.”
Mohammad Yusuf Nalband, a commerce graduate, who was employed with a private firm said, “I had only one thought and that was about my mother and the trauma that she was going through. She was alone and I was in jail for six months, I don’t know how she was able to manage. I just want to see her now.”
When Deccan Chronicle asked him whether he faced any torture in jail, a teary-eyed Yusuf said, “The police…the police…they made me recount everything from the time I was born till now.” However, regaining his composure he said he would talk to the media on Tuesday.
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